Johnny Be Good (1988)

Johnny Be Good: Directed by Bud Smith and written by Steve Zacharias, Jeff Buhai and David Obst.Tomatometer rating is 0%. That's right folks this movie has absolutely no positive reviews out of 11. I didn't hate this movie. This reminded me a lot of the New Guy in the sense that it reeks of the era in which it was made. It has such an 80s feel that it can be made no other time. This is an over the top comedy where every movement and line reading is cartoonishly inflated to grand proportions. It has non stop musical moments. It has montages out of the wazoo. It is taking the serious allegations of college trying lure high school athletes to certain colleges with deals meant to cater to their baser instincts and making it seem outlandish. It's not. It is something that happens and it's okay to lampoon it. This movie though just gave me a headache. It was a barrage of music and terrible unfunny comedy. The performances were right on the edge. I liked Anthony Michael Hall and Paul Gleason but Robert Downey Jr was insufferable in this film. He was wild and crazy for every single thing he did and it became too much very quickly. Thankfully though the movie was very short. It clocks in at 82 minutes. I wanted to like this movie. I really did but something felt off about the entire film from the very beginning. Nothing could be done to shake no matter how many lavish over the top mockery of Texas football there was. I give this movie a D.

People are taking this movie way too seriously. This is a late 80s comedy, it's supposed to make you laugh I don't know why the people who have written reviews about this view this movie as if it was supposed to be a serious film with a heartwarming meaning behind it. It's like a "back to school" (and you'll find Robert Downey Juniors role pretty much like his role as "Max" in this film) users who wrote this long, drawn out, serious review of this film don't get these kind of films obviously. Come on people this is like a slapstick comedy and not meant to be taken seriously at all it's kind of like "The Breakfast Club" meets "Varsity Blues" and they added a little "Not Another Teen Movie" to it.. It's not that bad a movie.. That's all I can say. Enjoy

You'd think a movie with that kind of title (taken from a song) would be a silly, over-the-top movie. Well, it is, but not in a good way. Is Johnny a troublemaker, or just a troubled kid? The movie reunites Anthony Michael Hall with his "Breakfast Club" co-star Paul Gleason, in case you never figured that out. The characters have no chemistry and there's no real story. It doesn't make you laugh, only chuckle. And it's certainly not even trying to be a good movie, much less a funny one. If there is any believable scene, it's towards the end of the movie, where everybody starts fighting after Johnny's announcement. What is the point of this assembly, anyway? From what I could tell throughout the movie, it didn't seem Hall ever decided on one. Talk about a cheat!** out of ****

This film is about various colleges doing unscrupulous acts in order to attract a talented American football player to study in their college."Johnny Be Good" has a bad plot and has poor acting. I normally like Uma Thurman, but her role in this is small and dispensable. There are so many implausible scenes which are so bad that they become funny. It is so bad that it becomes entertaining. For example, where did the well dressed cheerleaders come from in the spontaneous game in front of Georgia's house? And that flamboyant outfit Johnny goes home with is ridiculously bad. Leo Wiggins, played by Robert Downey Jr., has very little screen time, but he is memorable role in a bad way. He is so crazy that he is painful to look at.Maybe it was a good film by 80's standards, but watching it 20 years down the line, it has become an embarrassing joke.